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An Aristotelian Virtue of Gratitude

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to offer a reconstruction of gratitude as an Aristotelian virtue. The account I propose is meant to be essentially Aristotelian although it is clearly not Aristotle’s own account. I start in section “Current Discourses on Gratitude” with an overview of recent discourses on gratitude in philosophy and psychology. I then proceed, in section “Putting the Aristotelian Pieces Together”, to spell out a formal characterisation of gratitude as an Aristotelian emotional virtue. Section “Reappraising Aristotle on megalopsychia and Gratitude” pauses to explore how such a characterisation can be squared with Aristotle’s apparently unambiguous remarks about gratitude as a non-component of the virtuous makeup of the megalopsychoi (the paragons of moral virtue). Finally, I conclude in section “Gratitude and Poetic Justice” by demonstrating the virtuosity of gratitude—what makes it intrinsically valuable as part of eudaimonia—by elucidating its association with the overarching emotional virtue of nemesis (poetic justice).

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  1. Jubilee Centre for Character and Values, School of Education, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Kristján Kristjánsson

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  1. Kristján Kristjánsson
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Correspondence to Kristján Kristjánsson.

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Kristjánsson, K. An Aristotelian Virtue of Gratitude. Topoi 34, 499–511 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-013-9213-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-013-9213-8

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